Amazon claims 14x value growth on first day of sale

Amazon India said it saw a 2.5x increase by value over Day 1 of last Diwali. Its rival Flipkart had earlier said it is looking to achieve a 2-3x growth in GMV from last year.Mugdha Variyar | ET Bureau | September 23, 2017, 09:18 IST

Amazon India said it has registered a 14x growth in value over business as usual on the first day of its Great Indian Festival sale on Thursday, on back of sales of smartphones, which could have likely taken the platform’s Day 1 sales to between Rs 1,100-1,400 crore.

The company said it saw a 2.5x increase by value over Day 1 of last Diwali. Its rival Flipkart had earlier said it is looking to achieve a 2-3x growth in GMV from last year.

Amazon’s average business as usual is about Rs 70-80 crore, while Flipkart’s is about Rs 100 crore, as per an industry expert, while another said Amazon’s was about Rs 100 crore and Flipkart’s was above Rs 115 crore. Both requested anonymity.

A third analyst said Flipkart had crossed Rs 1,500 crore in gross merchandise value (GMV) on Thursday, the second day of its Big Billion Day sale, which was focused on smartphone sales.

“On Thursday, the overall industry sales were at Rs 3,500 crore, while Day 1was Rs 1,000 crore,” said Anil Kumar, CEO at RedSeer.

“On Day 1, due to Shraadh period continuing till afternoon in the north, Flipkart lost out on some GMV. It also sold lower ASP fashion products, and overall, it’s Day 1 GMV was on par with Amazon’s (which had opened sales to only Prime customers for 12 hours). However, on Day 2, Flipkart has taken a significant lead and seems to have the momentum to reach its target,” said Kumar.

Flipkart had put down a target of over $1 billion for the five-day sale period and a 70%-30% lead over competition. On Thursday, the SoftBank-backed company said it was trending towards 60-65% market share of online sales during BBD. Flipkart’s Day 3 sales on Friday saw a huge push for its electronics category, with the company claiming it had achieved majority marketshare in the category across both online and offline channels.

Amazon said it saw a 150% increase in growth in sales of smartphones over last year, while Flipkart said it saw a growth of 150-200% in the smartphone category.